OSHA recently issued a final rule revising its Reporting and Recording of Occupational Injuries regulation. The rule which can be found at 89 FR 29623, requires employers to electronically submit to OSHA illness and injury data, some of which OSHA intends to publish on the publicly available database found at www.osha.gov. No personally identifiable employee information will be published.
The new rule imposes in part the following requirements:
1) Employers with over 250 employees must electronically submit their part 1904 recordkeeping forms (Forms 300, 300A and 301) to an OSHA designee on an annual basis;
2) Employers with over 20 and less than 250 employees must electronically submit their part 1904 annual summary (Form 301) to an OSHA designee on an annual basis;
3) All other employers must electronically submit their part 1904 recordkeeping forms upon request to an OSHA designee.
The electronic reporting requirements go into effect on January 1, 2017.
The new rule also requires employers to inform their employees of their right to report work-related illnesses and injuries; that the reporting requirements should not be unreasonable or burdensome; and that the statute prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee for reporting a workplace illness or injury.